Observing what the local airline companies are doing is usually a great way to gauge the state of local tourism markets, and if you are a regular reader of this blog, you will know that the movement and increase of airline numbers into Phuket and Thailand on the whole has been dramatic over the last 18 months, which really is a great sign for the future of the Phuket tourism markets.
Thai AirAsia (TAA) have been in the news the past few days because they have projected that by 2017, they will have doubled their fleet of jets to 60. This move is said to support the mission of the company, which is Thailand’s biggest low-cost airline, to dominate the Thai aerospace whilst also covering large parts of Myanmar and Indochina.
TAA recently announced that first quarter passenger volume figures in 2013 shows a 20% increase to 2.56 million. The airline is targeting a massive 10 million passengers for 2013, which will be an increase from 8.3 million in 2012, and 6.9 million in 2011. Any good news regarding the increase of passengers for a Thai airline is always great news for Phuket, which will no doubt see a big share of the increase being Thailand’s most sought after holiday destination.
